04/09/2013

Tutorial | Knitting / Crochet Needle Holder

I have needed a new knitting needle holder for a while now as my needles have poked holes through the fabric in my old one! The problem with going out and buying a new holder, or buying one online is that it is not customisable for my specific needs. I looked through a few tutorials on Pinterest and decided to make up my own.

This tutorial is fully customisable to your needs - you don't need to do exactly what I did as you may want / need something different!

(NB: This is a bit of a long tutorial, but I wanted to be as detailed as possible!)

You will need...

- 3 x 50x55cm pieces of material (I chose to have 3 different colours, you can do what you like!)

*Fat Quarters would be perfect for this - this is what I used, you may recognise the fabric from this post*

- Matching Thread

- 1 x 50x55 iron on interfacing

- Scissors

- Pins

- Sewing Machine

- Iron & Ironing Board

- The items you want to include in your holder!

Step 1 | Before you start cutting the material and sewing, it is a good idea to draw a rough layout of how you want the inside to look. This means you are spending less time moving the objects around!

Step 2 | Lay all of your objects on the material and play around with the layout as needed. This allows you to see how big to make the holder. Cut off any excess or unwanted material (keep in mind your seam allowance - I used 1/4 inch)

Step 3 | Now its time to iron on the interfacing. You want to make sure that the "dots" on the interfacing are placed on the wrong side of the outside fabric (see photo below). Iron over the fabric to secure the interfacing.

Step 4 | Lay all of the things you want to include in your holder on your fabric again to decide on where you want to place the pockets (leave room if you think you will add more in the future!) The best way to decide on the height of your pockets is to make sure you can see the smallest item you have!

Step 6 | You will need to sew only where the RED lines are for now. I made a small mark at the top of the pocket so I knew where to sew. Don't do anything with the large bottom pocket for the moment.

TIP | When you are sewing these lines, make sure you are lining up the mark you have made at the top of the material with the line on your sewing foot (where the arrow is pointing)

Step 7 | I hand sewed this skewer in to place for my place markers.

Step 8 | Sew the inside and outside of the holder together. First of all, line up the bottom pocket where you want it and pin it in place.

Step 9 | Place the outside material face down on the inside (right sides together). A good way to check you have done this right is to make sure the interfacing is showing, and you cannot see any pockets!

Step 10 | Sew only the where the red lines are (right side, top and left side) leave the bottom open for now.

TIP | I used a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Step 11 | Now you need to sew the bottom of the large pocket. Flip the pocket so that it is turned inside out over the outside fabric (as shown below) and sew along the red line. You can then flip it back and your bottom pocket is nearly complete!

Step 12 | Repeat Step 6 for the bottom pocket, sewing where the red lines are (where you have decided you would like pockets)

Step 13 | Finally, sew on your velcro. Make sure you do not sew over any existing material.

And you are complete! This has made my life so much easier and I definitely feel more organised.

I decided to make a new knitting bag to go with my holder. I used this pattern/tutorial from Noodlehead and I absolutely love it :) Big thanks to Michelle for buying the pattern and letting me use it!